Approved: Prague will have a new treatment plant in Troja. She had been planning the construction for 15 years
Prague gave the green light to the reconstruction of the central wastewater treatment plant on Cíařský ostrov in Troja, the preparation of which began about 15 years ago. The Council approved the construction of a new water line for 5.8 billion crowns without VAT. Due to the threat of fines regarding the purity of discharged water, it is to be completed by the end of 2017.
According to the information provided by the municipality, the consortium of four ÚČOV Praha companies (Stavby mostů Praha CZ, Hochtief CZ, Degrémont and WTE Wassertechnik) will start construction at the beginning of next year.
The city pays the treatment plant from the water and sewage fees and from its budget. It will not reach European subsidies due to a long-term and non-cancellable contract with the operating company Veolia.
The approved material shows that the line will cost the city treasury 3.54 billion crowns without VAT and the Prague Water Management Company (PVS) will pay another 2.26 billion as the network administrator. If there is a lack of money, it is also possible to use part of the loan from the European Investment Bank for the construction of the metro to Motol.
Water purification and distribution in Prague is accompanied by complex contractual relationships |
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In addition to the Káraný Water Source and the Želivka Water Treatment Plant, the capital is also owned by the capital. These three entities lease the infrastructure to the municipal company PVS, which also has an operating contract with Pražské vodovody a kanalizace (PVK). PVK supplies water to more than 1.4 million inhabitants of Prague and its surroundings. |
The costly construction of the water line will probably mean a further increase in water fees for Praguers. Mayor Tomáš Hudeček has already admitted this. The decision to raise the price should be made next year. This will really happen here, but it is not yet completely clear.
Politicians will probably not take an unpopular step before the election. The last time water charges in Prague increased at the beginning of this year, by more than 11 percent to 64.65 crowns without VAT per cubic meter. An extra 700 million a year is raised.
The treatment plant will have a unique flood protection, which has no period in the world |
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The designers designed a completely original closed method protecting the entire technology inside. The surrounding less significant and easily renewable areas will be gradually flooded in a controlled manner, depending on the severity of the flood, in order to balance the buoyancy of the water. Crucial technologies – the heart of the treatment plant – will remain intact. The line is to withstand five hundred years of water from 2002, plus a meter reserve. |
The construction of the line is the first phase of the overall modernization of the treatment plant, which should ultimately cost over ten billion crowns. In the next stages, Prague must invest billions in the construction of a gas station, repairs to the old water line and technical solutions for sludge management.
Prague was to start meeting the ecological limits for the content of nitrogenous substances in wastewater as early as 2011. However, it negotiated an exception. If they do not meet the set conditions, there is already a threat of heavy sanctions from the Czech Environmental Inspectorate and the European Commission.